


Finality

by Moveduser123



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Crying, Freckles, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gardening, Hurt/Comfort, Its platonic, Literal Sleeping Together, Male-Female Friendship, Other, Paya thinks they're banging, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Kissing, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Romance, Post-Calamity, Post-Canon, Returning Home, Sleeping Together, THEYRE BOTH GAY, Zelda has freckles and i love her, but you can see it as romantic i gues, link just needs a second alone thx, lots of plotholes, they have an interesting relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 02:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11545650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moveduser123/pseuds/Moveduser123
Summary: Some post Calamity shenanigans in which Link essentially abandons Zelda because he wants nothing to do with the war anymore, then Zelda takes it upon herself to find that boy and make sure he's mentally stable and shit or something.





	Finality

**Author's Note:**

> Some things to keep in mind  
> -Link and Zelda are both Very Gay but also Very Close  
> -Paya is straight(?) and Zels has a tiny crush on her  
> -Link likes Sidon even though he's mentioned like once  
> -Pretty much everyone believes that Hylia pre-determines everyone's lives  
> -I love Link and Zelda as beautiful qpps thanks

“What on earth have you been doing to yourself?” Zelda muttered, raking her fingers through Link’s sweaty hair.

“It’s called a tan, Zel,” Link retorted from somewhere under her chin. He pulling at the sheets below them before letting the clean cloth snap back onto the mattress with a gentle  _ whump _ .

They’d nearly broken the door down in their haste to get to a surface much more softer and forgiving than the pile of dirt and leaves Link had landed in when Zelda, after furiously slapping him across the face, had hugged him so hard Link thought his soul would be squeezed from his body.  

“I know what a tan is,” Zelda snapped, though she continued to run her fingertips across Link’s skin like she couldn’t believe her eyes. “ _ I tan _ ! I’m asking how you did it!”

“You burn,” Link said, in all honesty quite content to stay where he was, his cheek pressed against Zelda’s thigh, for the rest of the afternoon. “And I was gardening,” he added, when Zelda looked ready to argue.

“You  _ garden _ ?”

“I like gardening,” Link said loftily. “It’s  _ relaxing _ .”

“You made me search all of Hyrule,” Zelda grumbled, her lips on Link’s forehead now, “while you were in Hateno this entire time.  _ Gardening _ .”

“You should try it sometime,” Link pointed out, stretching out beneath her. He thought he could get used to the way Zelda was looking at him, all bright-eyed with wonder, as though Link himself were a variable in a complicated chemical formula that she had never considered nor thought possible.

“We have greenhouses at the castle,” Zelda offered, turning her own head a little when Link brushed scraped his knuckles against her cheek. “Not much earth to till in a series of rivers and cobblestone, I’m afraid. Though I did, at one point, study with the herbalists.”

“Oh?” Link said with interest, his face against Zelda’s neck now. “Traditional medicine?”

“Poison,” Zelda replied without inflection, turning Link’s hand in her own and raising her eyebrows. “You have  _ callouses _ ,” she said, sounding both disbelieving and delighted as she pressed her face to Link’s palm.

“Poison,” Link repeated blandly, and shook his head. He curled his fingers against Zelda’s cheek. “How did you know we were here?” he asked carefully. He wouldn’t have put it past the royal family to still keep track of them, even after the fall of the Calamity.

“Impa,” Zelda said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “And the castle guards have a relatively wide patrol area, and always come when called by the people. So, when we became aware of the frequent monster attacks just outside the town, I let them investigate. Your home isn’t exactly “expertly concealed”, you know, so if you were trying to hide, you weren’t doing a very good job of it.”

Link knew what that meant. “You made your  _ staff _ look for us?” he demanded, pulling away long enough to stare.

“They just happened to be in the area,” Zelda shrugged,  unremorseful. Her green eyes were sharp when they slid in Link’s direction. “Though if you had just  _ waited _ like I had asked instead of dashing off like the hounds of hell were after you, maybe I wouldn’t have had to join them.”

“Zel,” Link began gently, and stopped. He didn’t know what to say. He had never considered ending Calamity Ganon with more than what he had come for in the first place; the princess.

  
  


Link had always known how he intended to live out the rest of his days; that is to say, if he managed to make it out of the battle with Ganon alive. He’d leave central Hyrule for sure; he had thought, 'go somewhere with far less negative energy, somewhere that didn’t make his skin crawl with specters of memories.' He just wanted to gather his things and disappear, for the world wouldn’t need him anymore.

That was how they had wound up in Hateno. It was a small village, hardly big enough to be called a township really, surrounded by karst and little rivers and trails of trees. Paya, whom had joined him in his path to fading into the background, thought it pretty and peaceful. Link was just glad that they were nowhere near the coast. He had always hated the sea; the saltwater smell alone made his stomach turn. Its ties to his fallen lover didn’t really help either.

They got a garden. There had been little to no time for floral motivation before, after all. Only  hedges and rose bushes and otherwise unremarkable topiary dotted Hyrule. Link wanted peaches and plum blossoms and azaleas, however.  His grandmother had been an avid gardener, though of course it wasn’t exactly common knowledge. It might have been half the reason why she had looked at him with such alarm when she found him elbow deep in soil, as old as Impa while the neighbors chatted idly with him between transplanted saplings and seasonal blooms.

He spent a lot of his time outdoors, carefully tilling the earth. It was nostalgic in a way, reminding him of simpler times with his parents. His mother was a chemist by trade, but herbalism had been one of her hobbies. Part of Link wished he had paid more attention to her lessons when he had the chance, though the other part thought it was his just desserts, especially after the first few days, when he returned home with blisters all over his palms.

“Stop punishing yourself,” Paya had warned him, as she wrapped his hands in gauze and expressly forbid him from picking up so much as a spade for the next week or so. “I know that’s hard for you, champion, but the nearest doctor is a town over and I’d rather not have to make the trip over something as silly as you collapsing from  _ gardening _ too hard.”

“Sorry,” Link murmured, ducking his head sheepishly. “It’s been a while. Since I’ve handled anything other than swords and shields and bows, that is.”

Paya pursed her lips at that, because it was definitely  _ not _ a promise to quit working so hard, but her hands were gentle when they covered his own. “I can help,” she told him. “Just tell me what to do.”

They had a perfectly picturesque (if not slightly disordered) array of flowering trees not a year later. Link had considered taking a picture and making them into postcards. But of course, there really wasn’t anyone he could send them to had he gone through with that choice.

By this stage Paya had decided that the lack of medical aid in the city was unacceptable, and was considering taking on the task herself. Link was a warrior, mind you, not a doctor. The only thing he had ever learned about the human body was how easily it broke down when you neglected food and sleep for a week.

Luck really didn’t seem like it was on his side while he traversed Hyrule. In fact, luck seemed to get a kick out of making Link incredibly miserable and bewildered in turns.

He’d been in the garden again when it happened, a broad-brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes to keep off the beating sun. Paya had gone to the market to get their groceries for the week and no one had come down the path past their house since. That was when Princess Zelda had turned up, red-faced and scowling like his own personal, avenging angel.

She had looked so out of place, so  _ foreign _ in a little town whose biggest attraction is the rice fields,  that Link had thought he’d spent too much time in the sun and was going to get scolded by Paya for not taking breaks when he ought have.

  
  


“I hope you’re not going to apologize,” Zelda said testily, bringing his thoughts back to the present. She looked as though her temper had spiked significantly the longer she had to wait for an explanation to come forth. “Because I _ know  _ you won’t mean it and I don’t want to hit you again.”

“Because I’m so handsome?” Link quipped hopefully.

“Because this tan has improved your looks exponentially and I don’t want to spoil it by breaking your nose,” Zelda corrected. “Your face and… your face is all you’ve got going for you.”

“I’m not the one who still looks like a school girl in her mid-twenties,” Link pointed out and yelped when Zelda’s fingers pinched his side.

“Don’t think this means I’m not mad at you,” Zelda warned him. “Because I’m  _ furious _ .”

“I kind of figured that when you started yelling and hit me in the face,” Link admitted, but when he turned his head Zelda had pushed herself up so she was sitting next to Link instead of astride him, her face in her hand as though she were suffering a headache. 

“Zel?”

“You lied to me,” Zelda said, her voice muffled and so incredibly raw that Link sat up also.

“I’ve lied about a lot of things,” Link said quietly, and tried to reach for her, but Zelda pushed him away. The tips of her pointed ears were turning red.

“You said … I thought that you …” Zelda muttered, trying to find the words and failing. “ _ Why _ ?”

“Why what, Zel?” Link asked, knowing enough by now to just let this tirade run its course.

“Why spend every damn day parroting how much you cared for me if you didn’t fucking  _ mean _ it?” Zelda exclaimed, and looked up, her face now an angry, splotchy red.

Link sat back. “I did mean it!” he said in alarm. “I _ still  _ mean it!”

“You  _ ran _ !” Zelda shouted, her temper finally exploding. She shoved him, and Link was so startled that he fell back against the headboard, eyes wide. “You saved my life, granted, but then you left! Do I not merit a goodbye? A letter? Not even a fucking  _ note _ ?!”

“I  _ had _ to leave!” Link said, trying to explain his reasoning. He knew he didn’t have any good excuses. It had been a ‘fight-or-flight’ instinct that had gotten him out of Ganon’s clutches as soon as the fight had ended. “Get away from that entire mess, settle down somewhere first. I know where you live, I would have come to  _ you _ !”

“And how was  _ I  _ supposed to find  _ you _ ?” Zelda demanded, wringing her hands as though she was that close to wrapping them around Link’s neck. “Did you think I was just going to put my feet up and  _ hope _ you were going to come back?!”

Link raised his eyebrows, his mouth dropping open a little. “Why would I not come back…?!”

“Because you  _ hate  _ Hylia! You hate that you’re the ‘chosen one’! You  _ hate _ everything we stand for!”

“I  _ did _ hate her,” Link exclaimed, more than a little bewildered now, “and I’m telling you that’s  _ why _ I left! But that doesn’t have anything to do with how I feel about  _ you _ !”

Zelda stared at him. Her face was so red by this stage that Link thought her head was going to explode. 

“Are you  _ thick _ in the head?” she suddenly screamed, so incredibly fiercely that Link reared back. “Has all this time in the sun scrambled what little brain cells you have left!? It has  _ everything _ to do with me!”

“Why do you always have to  _ yell _ ?” asked Link, who now had a faint ringing in his right ear. “Zel,  _ please _ the neighbours are going to come looking - ”

“The path Hylia set up for me is all I fucking  _ have _ !” Zelda said, and then stopped so abruptly that Link feared she was going to collapse on the spot. Then she seemed to wilt before his eyes, all the fight leaving her just as suddenly as it had appeared. Zelda moved then, shifting to the edge of the bed, dropping her face in her hands.

“Hylia’s will is all I have,” Zelda said again, much more quietly this time. “It’s my entire life. It’s everything I’ve worked for. I don’t … I have never known anything else,” she whispered, seeming to hunch so deeply into herself that for a moment, Link thought she looked like a little girl again, throwing a fit over her father’s decision to assign a personal knight to her side. “The war is over… so what? What am I supposed to do now? There’s nothing left.” 

There were angry tears in her eyes when she turned her head to glare at Link.

“All my friends and family are dead. My kingdom is in ruins. I have  _ nothing  _ outside Hylia’s will” she hissed, so full of  _ hurt _ , “… except  _ you _ .”

“ _ Oh _ ,” Link murmured, rushing forward when it felt like his own heart was going to burst open, so incredibly grateful when Zelda allowed him to fold her into his arms without a fight. “Oh, that’s not why I left, Zel. It wasn’t you, it was  _ never _ you. You’re my best friend, and I really do love and appreciate you.”

“Then _ never _ do that again,” Zelda said gravely, her nails digging half-moon welts into Link’s shoulder blades. He could feel hot tears dripping down his shoulder. 

Zelda sniffed wetly. “You  _ asshole _ .”

“I won’t,” Link said with as much feeling as he could muster as he crushed Zelda tight against him. He curled his fingers into her hair. “I’m done, Zel. No more running, I promise.” He paused, considering. “Unless I get shot by a guardian and pass out again.”

Zelda didn’t  _ laugh _ , but she coughed sharply and thumped Link on the back with her fist, wiping her eyes with the heel of her palm. “… you won’t have _ time  _ to run away if you pass out, you dolt,” she muttered.

Link kissed her forehead pressing their hands together. “I love you,” he said again.

Zelda swallowed hard, her eyes searching Link’s face. “I love you too,” she said at last, before hiding her face against Link’s neck again.

They stayed like that a little while longer, just clinging to each other and breathing, until a thought occurred to Link.

“Zel,” he said quietly, pulling away slowly, because Zelda looked, for all intents and purposes, as though she had fallen asleep in his arms.

“Hmm?”

“Where are you staying?”

“What kind of ridiculous question is that,” Zelda asked, and settled back into curling around Link like a small, disgruntled cat. “ _ Here _ of course. With you.”

“Well I know  _ that _ ,” Link replied, “I’d have bullied you into it regardless, but… you must have been staying somewhere before coming here right? This wasn’t an accidental visit, and we don’t exactly live in the middle of town.”

Zelda went rigid so quickly that Link thought she might have turned to stone if that were at all possible. 

He let go and narrowed his eyes, because Zelda was suddenly looking everywhere but at Link’s face. “ _ Zel _ …?”

Zelda cleared her throat and busied herself with rubbing her still reddened eyes. “I didn’t… you, see the thing is that …”

The front door slammed open, and they both nearly jumped a foot in the air. Link stared. Footsteps pattered down the hall.

“Link?” Paya called out. She sounded like she was dropping her shoes as she ran. 

“Link, there’s an entire train of knightssitting at the bottom of the hill playing dice because their master had  _ urgent business _ to take care of, is it really alright to leave them there - ”

She opened his bedroom door and stopped dead. Her eyebrows had climbed to her hairline.

“Paya!” Link exclaimed, because Zelda looked ready to pass out all over again. They weren’t anything more than  _ very close friends _ , as they were both very , _ very _ gay, but the implications of a relationship could still be traced. Paya wasn’t an idiot, and they were  _ alone _ in a bedroom together.

“Princess Zelda!” Paya said instead, before Link could forge on with an explanation. She sounded surprised, but not  _ shocked _ . “I didn’t think - oh, but you’re  _ early _ ! I thought you wouldn’t get here before - ”

“ _ Miss Paya _ !” Zelda suddenly shouted, just as Paya seemed to catch herself and slapped a hand over her own mouth, as though she had just given away a terrible secret. 

Her voice had risen a few octaves, and she stood up so suddenly that Link ended up falling off the bed. “Always a pleasure!”

“Oh, likewise!” Paya said brightly, in a similar high-pitched tone. Her smile suddenly seemed fixed on her face. “I’ve only just got back from the market, but would you like to join us for tea?” She gestured towards the kitchen.

“An excellent idea! I’ll help you!” Zelda yelped, adjusting her shirt and sidestepping Link, who had made a grab for her ankle as she darted past.

“Zel…?” Link gaped, pulling himself off the floor. “Paya!?  _ Hey _ !”

“Please put your shirt on properly, champion!” Paya scolded, though she seemed to hopping anxiously from foot to foot now. “I know we don’t get guests often, but  _ really _ .”

“But I didn’t… _ Guests _ !? You mean, you - ”

“The tea will be ready in a few minutes!” Paya promised, and grabbed Zelda’s wrist as she slid past her into the hall, suddenly looking supremely embarrassed for some reason. “I’ll tell you all about it then!”

They darted off. He could hear them  _ whispering _ frantically to each other. Link thought his jaw was going to hit the floor.

“What is going  _ on _ !?”

  
  


“You’ve been writing  _ letters _ !?” Link exclaimed. He looked between them accusingly. Zelda was staring resolutely at the table, flushed all the way down to her collarbone. 

Paya looked like she was trying to hide behind the tea tray but her eyes were stern when she looked at him.

“That’s right,” she said firmly. Link rounded on Zelda.

“You’ve known where I was since  _ last autumn _ ,” he hissed, “and instead of contacting me you start writing letters to  _ Paya _ ? And you have the _ gall _ to yell at me for  _ abandoning _ you?!” he finished angrily, aware that his voice was rising. Zelda winced.

Link knew that Zelda had a flair for the dramatic, and he had always appreciated that; he was a bit of a showman himself. But _ this _ …

“Calling me a liar is starting to sound a bit rich now isn’t it, Zel?” he said coldly, tapping his fingers on the tabletop and grimacing. Zelda looked away.

Then the tea tray came down hard on Link’s head. 

“Paya!” Link raised a hand to rub his forehead, looking betrayed, but she just frowned at him.

“Don’t be  _ mean _ , Link!” she told him as she withdrew her weapon. “Princess Zelda  _ couldn’t  _ have known where you were last autumn by because I only contacted him in late spring  _ this year _ .”

“ _ You _ ?” Link spluttered, gesturing wildly between them. “You mean he didn’t…? What do you mean,  _ you _ \- ”

“I want to become a doctor,” Paya announced, as she sat back down and folded her hands together. “And to do that I need to be able to have the proper education. Princess Zelda has very generously provided me with a list of good teachers and told me that I may speak to her royal herbalists and healers if I wanted to get a better idea of what I was getting into, so I’ve been writing to them too.”

“ _ A doctor _ ?” Link yelped. “When!?”

“I haven’t thought that far yet,” Paya admitted, looking a little thoughtful. She reached across the table for Link’s hand and laced their fingers together.

“Link...” she started softly, “I love this town and I enjoy being here with  _ you _ , but I’ve found something else of interest. Weren’t you the one who said that if I never leave, I’ll never learn? That’s the whole reason I left Kakariko with you in the first place.”

Link made a face. “I know...”

There was a hesitant tap at the window. A man in bulky silver armor was standing next to the porch, looking at them anxiously.

Zelda sighed. “Please excuse me a moment,” she said, getting up from her seat and going outside. The man immediately fell into step beside her, speaking quickly.

“If I’d known she was bringing an entire entourage I’d have followed you to the market,” Link said somewhat sarcastically. “Then we could have had  _ everyone _ over for tea.”

Paya slapped his hand lightly. “Link,” she admonished. “You  _ are _ happy to see her aren’t you?” she asked worriedly.

Link exhaled heavily. “Of  _ course _ I’m happy to see her!”

“And you didn’t have any problem showing her just  _ how _ happy you were, did you?” Paya prodded. Link’s cheeks pinked.

“We  _ didn’t _ \- ” he started to protest and stopped when he caught Paya’s eyes twinkling. “That’s not something I feel entirely comfortable discussing with someone I see as a sister, just so you know.”

Paya laughed.

“How on earth did you manage to get her all the way out here anyway?” he asked, raising his eyebrows, but Paya shook her head and giggled.

“She was after you, of course,” she said, “but she thought that you didn’t want to see her. So I told her that you were so bored you tried to dig a moat around the house and to please come over before you utterly ruined the landscape.”

“It wasn’t a  _ moat _ !” Link said indignantly. “I was trying to expand the fishpond for Sidon!”

“I love you,” Paya said seriously, squeezing his hand, “You know that. But you’re a  _ fighter _ , Link, not a farmer, and I’ve watched you try to transplant an entire forest around us since we got here. You need something to put both your mind and body to work or you’re going to go crazy.”

“And you think Zel’s the answer to that?” Link asked, genuinely curious.

“She really does value you,” Paya replied, with so much warmth that it sent a shiver down Link’s spine, “but she’s a fighter too. I’m not sure whether she travelled halfway across the country to stop you or to see if your plan was so crazy it might actually _work_.”

Link actually did laugh at that, both of them hunched over the dining table clutching each other’s hands and wheezing, only dissolving into more giggles when Zelda turned from her spot near the apple tree in the corner of the garden to look back at the house with furrowed brows.

“You’re really okay with this?” Link asked, when he finally got himself under control. Paya’s smile was a little sad now, and she folded her other hand over his so she was holding his hand between both of her own.

“I’m way over you. Besides, you’ve worked so hard to defeat the Calamity, to make Hyrule a home again, to make  _ everyone _ happy,” she whispered, “now, more than anything, I want  _ you _ to be happy.”

Link covered her hands with his own. “If it’s possible to be any happier than this, I think I’ll explode,” he told her honestly, and smiled when she looked up at him with shining eyes.

The porch door slid open. Zelda stood there, looking a little uncomfortable. The knight that had come to fetch her was nowhere to be seen.

“I told them to move my luggage into the inn,” Zelda said, when both Paya and Link looked at him curiously. “It was taking up too much space on the road and the locals were getting suspicious. I’ll stop by tomorrow and get some of my things, if …” she cleared her throat, “… if you don’t mind my staying here, that is.”

Link gave her a careful once-over. He turned to Paya. 

“She’s putting her  _ luggage _ in an inn,” he told her solemnly, in the tone of one who honestly didn’t know why he was surprised by anything anymore.

Zelda went red. Paya slapped Link on the arm.

“I’m going to put the groceries away,” she announced, letting go of his hand and getting to her feet. She wiggled her fingers at them in a shooing motion. 

“You two should …  _ talk _ ,” she finished after a suspicious pause that made Link squint at her. She went over to where Zelda was standing, clasping his hands in her own.

“Thank you for coming Princess Zelda,” she said sincerely, kissing his cheeks twice in the European style, “I’m glad you’re here.”

Zelda went, if possible, even  _ redder _ . Link would have instinctively leapt out of his seat then and there if not for the fact that Paya knew him like the back of her hand, and shoved him back down into a sitting position before he could even rise.

“I’ll call you when I need help with dinner,” Paya told him, her hands like claws on his shoulders, but the lips she pressed to the top of his head when she passed by were soft. 

“Try not to break anything,” she added, and gave him one last knowing look before ducking out of the kitchen and disappearing down the hall.

Silence fell between them. Zelda turned and went back out onto the porch before Link could even open his mouth though, so he had no choice but to follow her.

Link found her sitting in the tall grass, looking up admiringly at the sweet blossoms on the apple trees. He sat down next to her.

“So,” Link said softly, when Zelda showed no signs of bolting. “Complaints about monsters, huh?”

Zelda snorted. “It wasn’t a  _ complete _ lie,” she said, pulling up bits of grass absentmindedly. “There really is a little problem along the path leading to Hateno.”

“ _ Right _ ,” Link chuckled a little and settled back on his hands. “Do you think they’d  _ really _ have known me even if they’d seen me?”

“Of course not,” Zelda retorted, gesturing at Link vaguely. “Look at you. The only thing that separates you from the real trees is that stupid grin on your face. You’re  _ entirely _ unremarkable.”

“Ah, Zel,” Link sighed and pressed a hand against his chest. “You cut me to the quick. I don’t know how I ever lived without you.”

“So long as you don’t run off again, we’ll never have to find out,” Zelda replied disgruntledly, looking away. Link tilted his head and smiled.

“Are you saying you want to stay?” he crooned, leaning over into Zelda’s personal space and hoping to get a rise out of her.

“ _ Yes _ ,” Zelda said, and turned on him with serious eyes.

Link stared.

“…You’re  _ awful _ Zel,” he said at last, when he finally managed to find his voice, butting his head against Zelda’s shoulder and winding himself around him like an overly-affectionate squid. “You can’t say that kind of thing with a straight face, it’s not  _ fair _ . You  _ know _ you have to rebuild Hyrule.”

Zelda blustered at that, putting her arms around Link in turn. “W-Well I don’t mean forever  _ here _ ,” she stuttered, “I have to head back to the castle eventually, yes. I’ve got… Well, we still have our kingdom to restore, and there are trade negotiations to attend… pensions to file--”

“Zel,” Link said again, muffled against her shoulder. “You’re ruining it.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“I want to stay with you forever too,” Link said softly, and felt gratified when he felt Zelda’s skin warm beneath him.

“ _ Oh _ ,” Zelda whispered, just as quietly, and kissed his cheek, sending Link sprawling backwards into the tall grass.

  
  


Link had never believed in mornings. He believed in them even less now, considering that there was no longer any voices in his head hounding him to get up and get to work because he had to  _ save the world _ .

That and coffee wasn’t a staple in a small town like this one. Coffee was a  _ luxury _ , and therefore expensive. Link saw no point in getting up early at all if he had no coffee to help the process along.

He drifts, for the most part, in the mornings. Murmurs and grabs and complains when Zelda wiggles out of his arms, leaving her side of the bed cold. Zelda rises even earlier than Paya does, though to what end Link could never say. It seemed to be a lifelong habit.

Always a kiss on Link’s forehead, always an ‘ _ I love you _ ’ that she thinks he cannot hear, and if Link were lucid enough, he’d drag Zelda back to bed.

On weekdays Paya takes Zelda to the market with her, and sometimes they bring back breakfast. 

She doesn’t dare leave her in the house alone if Link’s sleeping; had confided in her friend once that Zelda had nearly set an entire bottle of oil alight while attempting to do  _ housework _ and she didn’t really want to come home only to find that the entire house had burned down.

Zelda had never done a day’s housework in her  _ life _ , and while both were grateful that she was willing to  _ learn _ , she still seemed incapable of doing so unsupervised.

There is another reason too, why they always go to the market as a pair and never alone, though Paya has never spoken of it to Link’s face. She  _ wouldn’t _ , because she is unfailingly good and  _ kind _ , but that doesn’t mean that Link doesn’t  _ know _ . He internally defended with a simple  _ We’re both gay, so there’s no way we’d do that _ , but Paya never seemed fully convinced, so he kept that reasoning to himself.

It is surreal in a sense, to think about all the ways in which his adventure had opened his eyes to the world around himself, helping him look past the cliche “ there’s a Big Bad Pig named Ganon that needs to be defeated”.

He had met people from all over the world; people who were good and bad and not just generic faces that symbolised an entire race and all the  _ suffering  _ they had lived through over the past one hundred years.

People who had been perfectly pleasant and, for a lack of a better word,  _ normal _ to Link and Paya in all the years they had stayed here now looked at them with an admiring glimmer when Zelda was with them. Echoes of “That’s the princess” vibrated throughout the little town.

 

He invites all of Zelda’s knights to dinner at least once a week, and smiles when they fret openly about eating in the same room as their princess.

It’s not all bad, really. 

He also created tiny dolls for the children around Hateno, whom Paya tutors in writing and arithmetic, because they complained about the fog of gossip that reigned over their town.

They tended to spend an inordinate amount of time after each lesson arguing over which one of them would get to marry Zelda and had both kicked Link in the shins when he had bluntly told them that she would never go out with a few kids. The father who was watching nearby did not confirm or deny this, but he  _ did  _ look up from his workbench long enough to tell Link that he deserved whatever bruising he got.

Zelda, who contrary to her own insistence, never actually  _ tanned _ , but now actually had some colour on her cheeks. And  _ freckles _ . That had been new and exciting. Link had been _ wild _ about the freckles.

 

Link drifts in the morning, not quite awake and yet not really asleep either. He dreams of freckles and sharks and marriage and  _ people _ . Good people, ignorant people, and family. 

He dreams of Paya, smiling and bright and warm, who has spent her whole life giving and now wants to give even  _ more _ . He will support her as best as he can. 

Of Sidon, and how he’s faring with the affairs of his own kingdom, and whether or not he’s really okay with a lover that wouldn’t be able to provide him children or a steady king to reign by his side.

Of Zelda, standing in the dappled shade of an apple tree, grinning and content to find there  _ is _ such a thing as life outside of the prophecy, even if it’s not exactly how she imagined it. She will be returning to central Hyrule before winter sets in, she had said, one evening over dinner.  _ Make sure you visit me _ is what she  _ doesn’t _ say, though Link knows that is what she meant.

Link gets out bed when the sun is high and bright in the sky, and laughter is drifting out from the kitchen. How many months preparing to face off Ganon had he spent dreaming up such a scenario? How long had he imagined being able to have breakfast with his friends in his own home, and not while hanging from a cliff or sitting on the unforgiving pathways about the kingdom.

“Link!” Paya exclaimed, when he finally wanders into the kitchen. She sets a mug down on the table and shakes her head at him. “You didn’t even comb your hair!” she tuts, but she holds her hand out to guide him to his seat all the same. 

He takes it gratefully. Paya had learned her lesson fairly early on that it was better this way, less Link trip over nothing and end up face first on the floor.

He sits. There are pork buns, rice with fried eggs,  and tea on the table, but he can’t take his eyes off the mug that’s placed in front of him. 

“Is that  _ coffee _ ?” he asked, in a voice that is still raspy with sleep and wishes he had cleared his throat first. He sounds like an  _ addict _ .

Paya fairly beamed at him. “ _ Surprise _ !” she told him giddily.

“What can I say,” Zelda sighed, sliding open the porch door with her foot and hefting the groceries over the threshold. “The sight of you tottering around the house like a ghost in the mornings was really starting to get to me.”

Link dragged his mug closer and took a sniff. “I haven’t tasted this since I was in the Lakeside stable,” he said accusingly. “And before that, I was in Hyrule castle’s mess hall. They don’t sell coffee beans in any of the stores around here.

“Oh, we didn’t go to the stores around here,” Paya said, still smiling behind her steepled fingers. “We stopped by the inn on the way home and one of Princess Zelda’s knights dug it out of her luggage.”

“You had my coffee  _ this whole time _ !?” Link exclaimed, suddenly very awake and very aghast.

“If you don’t want it,” Zelda said, leaning over the table and looking Link dead in the eye, “I’ll take it back.”

Link caged his fingers protectively around his mug. “ _ Don’t you dare _ .”

“That’s what I thought,” Zelda replied, pushing wayward curls aside to press her lips to Link’s forehead, the same way she always did first thing in the morning. “But don’t think this means you get out of eating breakfast.”

Link takes a sip before he can change his mind. It is warm and mild and tastes of home. He sighs deeply and closes his eyes. “I wish I could’ve run into you sooner,”

When he opens them, he sees both Zelda and Paya staring at him.

“ _ Please _ tell me you weren’t addressing your coffee,” Zelda says at last, sounding mildly concerned, and Paya ducks her head over her teacup, trying not to giggle.

Link glances between them and is suddenly, overwhelmingly, aware of how much he would give up to spend every morning for the rest of his life like this.

He shakes his head and takes another sip of his coffee. “How was the market today?” he asks instead, and settles back to listen as Paya starts recounting the highlights of their trip.

He glances at Zelda, who has her chin propped in her hand, still looking at Link out of the corner of her eye.

“ _ Idiot _ ,” she whispers, in the sort of tone that other people would say  _ I love you _ .

Link shrugs, and finds himself smiling.

He’s  _ home _ .

 

 

**END.**

  
  
  



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